It is not how many times you visit a country, or in particular a certain city, it is the quality of time that you spend there and the people you meet that makes the difference.

Through more than 30 years of traveling with my parents, I have written about most of the places I went. Sometime in great detail. However, all in all, India — and, in particular, Mumbai — was one of those places that touches your soul at all levels.

My last trip to Mumbai was three years ago but memories brought warm tears to my eyes while watching the amazing Oscar-wining movie “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Mumbai was to me an epic story that transported you with tense emotion from high-tech centers to exclusive posh, gated communities to slums where thousands of people huddled in make-shift dwellings

I have seen poor and miserable places on the planet and in most of them, you can see the harshness of life on the faces of the people. And in the slums of New York, the Big Apple, you sense a feeling of tough negative energy. But not Mumbai. The beauty of the Indian soul is so concentrated, and probably has been for thousands of years that it is there in the giant mango trees and the colorful green parrots.

I would raise my hat if I had one and salute the spirit of the Indian people, and especially those in Mumbai for the purity of their souls. I would like to suggest that they spread that purity over the angry planet.

*****

Dear Nadia,

I am joining my husband as he has been working in Saudi Arabia for over five years. My daughter is six years old and I have some details about her school, but I did not ask about Girl Scouts. This is important to me since I was one myself. We will live in the Eastern Province so can you please tell me if there are Girl Scouts in Saudi Arabia.

— Melinda, Ontario

Dear Melinda,

My daughter Deena joined the British Girl Brownies when she was young. She is now 20 years old and still has fond memories about those times. You should check the British schools in the Eastern Province as well as the American ones in Aramco and also the French.

Good luck!